online English resources

I came across good things over the years. A few have become my daily assistants, e.g., OALD and M-W. Some have been put on the back burner of my hard drive.

Certainly, good learning materials abound on the web. Here I'm talk about resources that target learners or are of interest to them. Particular attention is given to those still attractive to me (I'm no longer quite a beginner).

Highlights

British:

BBC World Service

Read news and listen to some.

BBC World Service -- Learning English

BBC Chinese -- Learning English

American:

NPR

A wonderful source for normal speed English listening.

VOA Chinese -- Learning English

Excellent short lessons for idioms, short dialogues, and everyday English.

Language elements

Dave's ESL Cafe

I saw there an idiom page which is good.

The Idiom Connection

This used to be a Geocities page several years ago. Now that it's got its own domain name, we may count on its being around for a long time.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Seems to be useful to beginners. I never used it.

ESLnotes

They pick classic movies and explain notable phrases, idoms, and structures that occur in the script. Very good for movie lovers. I noticed this resource several years ago but never used it (sorry again).

english-to-go

Reading and writing

Project Gutenberg

I noticed this place several years ago but never read anything off of it. As I checked it again today, I saw a better-looking front page with some welcomed function additions. But the meat is basically plain text just as before.

bartleby

Quite a bit selected good reading.

References

OALD

Get a print copy as well. The paper cover edition, which is cheaper, will do. This is the first, least, and best investment by a learner of English as a foreign language.

M-W

Its two most useful features I found are 1) audio pronunciation; and 2) approximate match, that is, when you're not sure of the exact spelling, input the best you know and it'll find similar words for you. Also consider shelling around 20 bucks for a local installation on your laptop.

Roget's

thesaurus.com

Thesaurus. I don't know wich of these two is better. The second may be more up to date.